Instagram finally comes to Android

Android users, rejoice: the popular photo-sharing app Instagram has arrived.

 

The popular app known for its intuitiveness is now available at the Android Market for download, TechCrunch reported Wednesday (Manila time).

 

Instagram gained popularity for its ease of use where users can edit and rotage an image, or add borders and other effects, it noted.

 

Users can also share the photo to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Posterous, Foursquare or via email.

 

In one-and-a-half years, Instagram gained 30 million users among owners of devices running Apple's iOS platform.

 

TechCrunch quoted Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom as saying that with Android having 500 million activations compared to Apple's 180 million iPhones sold, Instagram "has a real chance of hitting 100 million users across both devices soon enough to matter."

 

"Facebook took about four years to reach its first 100 million; The idea of Instagram becoming the world’s first formidable, mobile-only social network is extremely compelling," TechCrunch noted.

 

But it said Systrom admitted a major concern is consistency across both platforms, and that the same 13 people who built the iOS app also built Android, which can run on any camera phone with Android 2.2 or above with support for OpenGL ES 2.

 

“The Android app offers an extremely familiar Instagram experience when compared to the iOS app ... You’ll find all the same exact filters and community as our iOS version,” Systrom said.

 

Cut features

 

However, TechCrunch noted iOS features like Tilt/Shift, Flickr integration and inline posting did not make the cut for the initial Android app, but can be expected in future versions.

 

TechCrunch said the app is also available in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

 

“Launching on a single platform allowed us to focus on the product and the user experience. It’s given us the ability to stay small and nimble, and we’ve been able to respond quickly to user feedback,” Systrom said in explaining why they focused on iOS first.

 

Expansion

 

TechCrunch said Systrom would not comment on what platform it would launch on next, and ignored questions about an iPad app or website.

 

But it said the team may have its hands full with scaling Android.

 

"An early sign up page thrown up a week ago has accumulated over 430,000 people on its waiting list! And while Android already has apps that essentially have Instagram’s functionality, Systrom isn’t thrown by the competition," it said.

 

“There are plenty of clones on iOS as well – but at the end of the day it’s the community people want to be part of. We’re excited to see the community grow with even more perspectives all around the world,” it quoted Systrom as saying. — RSJ, GMA News